Sports Extra

GRAND JUNCTION – Not only were they competitive, but they looked good doing it, too – again.

The Durango High School Competition Cheer Team placed first in the intermediate varsity division last month at the Western Slope Regionals in Grand Junction, and for the second consecutive year, the Demons’ cheer squad won the choreography competition.

DHS finished four points shy of beating the grand champion, an all-star team, but were the highest scoring high school team on the Western Slope.

DHS is coached by Jenn Johnson and Daena Roberts and managed by junior and alternate cheerleader Elise Mask.

The cheerleading team leaves today for the Colorado State Championships on Saturday at the Denver Coliseum. Its next game – girls basketball – is Tuesday at DHS.

Durango Herald

NHL

Owners reject the players’ latest offer for labor peace

NEW YORK – The NHL rejected the players’ latest offer for a labor deal, and negotiations have broken off at least until the weekend.

Donald Fehr made two separate appearances Thursday night in front of a large throng of reporters just moments apart after talks with the league ended. Initially, Fehr said he believed the sides had agreements on some key issues, but he returned soon after to say NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly left a voicemail saying the players’ offer wasn’t good enough.

The voicemail, left for union special counsel Steve Fehr, stated that “some things or everything” the league has offered now is off the table, according to Donald Fehr, who added that this is not a positive development.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was expected to speak later Thursday, the 82nd day of the lockout. Bettman was not part of the one-hour meeting earlier in the day.

Soccer

Rapids’ captain will return to right Colorado’s ship

COMMERCE CITY – Colorado captain Pablo Mastroeni is returning to the Rapids for a 12th season in 2013.

Mastroeni is the club’s career leader in games played and a veteran of two World Cups. He spent much of last season on the disabled list with concussion symptoms. He suffered a series of head injuries dating to the 2011 season that caused him to miss games.

The 36-year-old midfielder has played in 218 games for the Rapids, whom he joined in 2002 after four seasons with the Miami Fusion. He took over for John Spencer as captain Sept. 23, 2004, and has held that role ever since.

He led the Rapids to a victory in the 2010 MLS Cup and has made 65 appearances for the U.S. in World Cup competition.

World Cup Ski Racing

Cuche returns to the Swiss, this time as a coach

BERN, Switzerland – Four-time World Cup downhill champion Didier Cuche will help coach his former Switzerland teammates after their slow start to the season.

The Swiss ski federation said the 38-year-old Cuche, who retired from racing in March, primarily will advise on training days ahead of downhill races. He will start next week before the Dec. 15 downhill in Val Gardena, Italy.

The team said Cuche will continue at the January races in Wengen, Switzerland, and Kitzbuehel, Austria, where he was a five-time winner.

Swiss racers Didier Defago, the Olympic downhill champion, and Carlo Janka won back-to-back Wengen titles in 2009 and ’10. However, Defago’s 10th-place finish last weekend at Beaver Creek is the team’s best result this season.